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Add wax moths to my list.

I just found A wax moth larvae on the screened bottom. Now I am getting fustrated and very angry. It seems I have no choice but to use chemicals to help them live.
What is the world comming to, Frigging honeybee pests are BullS#*!.:mad: All this has to happen right at the end of the season, and with my best honey producing hive.

If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. If you build it, they will fill it.

I hear you Grimbee. After my wonderful day knocking over a hive, I had to go and pull apart a recent deadout. The hive went laying worker in late July. I tried re-queening, shaking, you name it. Got tired of feeding the colony frames of brood to keep them going, but once the population got low the wax moths moved in. That was about the end of it. I combined the few I had left and walked away. I suppose that if it had all happened later, they may not have made it through the winter so, in a way, they saved me some money, time and trouble. Onward my friend....onward....

"My wife always wanted girls. Just not thousands and thousands of them......"

Yeah its a pain in the butt, but I will never get discouraged. This is a very addicting hobby, and a whole new world of fun. It just strikes me odd as the strongest hive I have is the one that has all the bad problems.

If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. If you build it, they will fill it.

wax mouths

Grimbee,sorry to hear your wax mouth problem.Several beekeepers here had problems with them this year.Strong hives will keep wax mouths in check,if you foumd one on the sbb they are doing their job.If they have spun their webbs then their is more space than the colony can defend.I don!t know of any chemicals you can place within the colony for wax mouths.I would reduce their space.

Grimbee,
I found "1" wax moth lavae in my screened bottom board sticky board the other week while testing for mites. I fed them essential oil(peppermint) sugar water and checked a few days ago and no wax worm larvae to bee seen. I dont know whats in the combs but I wonder if I scared them off?

I just finished inspecting my hives and found no sign of any wax moths:confused: Whatever it was it was not a wax moth, I found no webbing, cocoons, moths, or larvae. Just a healthy colony with way too many Varroa, which I am sugar dusting for.
No problems with the other 2 hives at all, good brood patterns and plenty of pollen(serious amounts of goldenrod comming in) and honey, and very low Varroa counts. The sugar powder is working great on these 2 hives. The 1 is in bad shape in my opinion, but will see how it turns out.

If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. If you build it, they will fill it.

Finding one wax moth larva means that you had at least one wax moth in one of your hives at one time. In reality, you probably have wax moths and a few larva in all of your hives almost all of the time, which is a normal finding for a healthy colony. Having some mites has also become quite normal, but if everything else looks fine - brood patterns, stores, healthy-appearing individuals, good flight activity, a clean nest, etc. then where is the problem?
Like your tagline says, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. " John 10:11

I just found A wax moth larvae on the screened bottom. Now I am getting fustrated and very angry. It seems I have no choice but to use chemicals to help them live.
What is the world comming to, Frigging honeybee pests are BullS#*!.:mad: All this has to happen right at the end of the season, and with my best honey producing hive.

I am seeing some replies…

‘sorry about your problem’ etc.

But I see NO problem! The wax moth are right where they are suppose to be, and the bees are keeping them out of the comb.

Wax moth are commonly found on bottomboards and also in the debris of healthy feral colonies.

I just found A wax moth larvae on the screened bottom. Now I am getting fustrated and very angry. It seems I have no choice but to use chemicals to help them live.
What is the world comming to, Frigging honeybee pests are BullS#*!.:mad: All this has to happen right at the end of the season, and with my best honey producing hive.

One wax moth? What's the big deal? I never use anything in my hives to curtail wax moths except a good strong colony. What are you going to use?

Relax man. Pests of honeybees is the modern way of life. Get used to it. Learn all you can about your bees and their pests and predators and go w/ the flow.

That is pretty much what I am doing, taking it in stride. I am not gonna run and order chemicals. From what everybody is telling me I don't have too much to worry about. All hives are strong, with good brood patterns and stores. They are really bringing a lot of Roldenrod. The hives reek of it, it is all I smell in the beeyard.

If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. If you build it, they will fill it.

I hear you Grimbee. After my wonderful day knocking over a hive, I had to go and pull apart a recent deadout. The hive went laying worker in late July. I tried re-queening, shaking, you name it. Got tired of feeding the colony frames of brood to keep them going, but once the population got low the wax moths moved in. That was about the end of it. I combined the few I had left and walked away. I suppose that if it had all happened later, they may not have made it through the winter so, in a way, they saved me some money, time and trouble. Onward my friend....onward....

I've been pretty strong in my comments about other beekeeper's advice and what I call "book filler' concerning laying workers. Shaking out, placing frames of brood, killing introduced queens,....and it can go on all summer long. The only method I use anymore for laying workers is automatic combining with a queenright strong colony. By combining, the queen's pheremones will take care of any laying workers and you can split back apart after a couple weeks, and introduce a queen into the queen split.

GRIM,
I agree with naturebee....one wax moth is no big deal. These are the pest of beekeeping and it's common to see wax moths.

"one" larvae of any sort is not anything to be concerned about. Unless you just watched "alien" or you have a rabbit with a botfly warble (ew ew ewwww!!!).

They will always be with us...moths (greater and lesser), SHB, mites. You may not see them in the hive, but there are going to be at least a couple of each probably present. A strong hive is a happy hive.

The bottom board is the best place for them to be. I frequently will find them there. No worries, mate!

>But I see NO problem! The wax moth are right where they are suppose to be, and the bees are keeping them out of the comb.

That's what I was going to say. That's what wax moths are supposed to do. Clean up the debris. I've never seen a healthy feral hive that didn't have them in the debris below the colony. Plus the SBB protects them from the bees so they can clean up the debris without being bothered. It's normal to find them on a SBB tray.

There is a method to control wax moth depredation of the combs, and that is to spray them with Xentari (Bacillus thuringiensis Aizawai) which is available from Bruce Nyquist at honeybeeman@operamail.com (see For Sale forum).

Wax moths are a beneficial predator under natural conditions. When a feral nest fails the wax moths take over and break down the combs so that when a swarm arrives to take over the former nesting site it can get a fresh start. If something in the wax contributed to the failure of the nest e.g. AFB spores, the risk to the swarm will be significantly reduced.

Combs sprayed with Xentari are protected for years (possibly forever) by the BtA.

Xentari is a preventive measure, so if you decide to combine the hive you are concerned about be sure to spray the stored combs to protect them against wax moth.